57 Democrats Voted With The Republicans To Water Down Ro Khanna's Get-Out-Of-Yemen Bill

Trump water-carrier Ken Buck (R-CO)

Less-than-progressive members of Congress who are afraid of being primaried the way Crowley was, are happy to fork over $5,000 annually to the Congressional Progressive PAC so they can "join" the CPC, an important protection racket/insurance policy issuer for New Dems. And the latest New Dem who's joining the CPC is Eliot Engel. Does that mean AIPAC is a de facto CPC member now too?

It's gotten so bad, that when Sarah Lazare and Michael Arria wrote up the out-of-Yemen victory, the title of the In These Times piece was Here Are the “Progressives” Who Watered Down the House Measure Ending Support for the Yemen War. They list 13 CPC members (including 9 freshmen) who voted with the GOP to water down the import of the resolution. And, although, technically 4 of those freshmen-- Gil Cisneros (CA), Angie Craig (MN), Katie Hill (CA) and Steven Horsford (NV)-- are members of the CPC, each has joined the New Dem Coalition and is no more progressive than fellow New Dem freshmen like Max Rose, Abigail Spanberger, Mike Sherrill, Elissa Slotkin and Ben McAdams.

There are already 11 members of the CPC with ProgressivePunch over-all "F" scores: Antonio Delgado (NY), Jared Golden (ME), Katie Porter (CA), Donald Norcross (NJ), Steven Horsford (NV), Jimmy Panetta (CA), Adam Smith (WA), Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE), Brendan Boyle (PA), Tulsi Gabbard (HI) and Darren Soto (FL). Something's wrong here, although it's nice that CPC boosters can still brag that they have more members than any other Democratic caucus in Congress. Does anyone still take that boast seriously???

I had lunch today with an old friend who is often the biggest Democratic donor in Southern California. Before I could even sit down he started talking about how "moderate" Democrats have been all about telling us what's too difficult to accomplish. "They've done this for decades," he said. "And now they're doing it with the Green New Deal and Medicare-For-All. Thank God for those new freshmen who are holding their feet to the fire." He was talking about AOC, Ilhan, Rashida and Ayanna, but I'm thinking Jose Neguse belongs in that grouping too.

Thursday, in the run up to the vote to get the U.S. out of the Saudis' Yemeni genocide, right-wing Republican Ken Buck offered an amendment to water it down. Although most Democrats (175-- including the 5 heroes we just mentioned) voted against Buck's amendment, it passed 252-177. How did that happen? The Democratic leadership team voted against it. Why did 57 Democrats vote with the GOP? Fair question-- and an important one. First let's look at who crossed the aisle. The only Republicans to vote NO were libertarian-types Justin Amash (MI) and Tom Massie (KY). These are the Dems who they passed on the way across:

• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)
• Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)
• Cheri Bustos (New Dem-IL)
• Ed Case (Blue Dog-HI)
• Gil Cisneros (New Dem-CA)
• Lou Correa (New Dem-CA)
• Angie Craig (New Dem-MN)
• Jason Crow (New Dem-CO)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)
• Antonio Delgado (D-NY)
• Abby Finkenauer (D-IA)
• Jared Golden (D-ME)
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Josh Harder (New Dem-CA)
• Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
• Katie Hill (New Dem-CA)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Steven Horsford (New Dem-NV)
• Chrissy Houlahan (New Dem-PA)
• Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
• Andy Kim (D-NJ)
• Anne Kuster (New Dem-NH)
• Conor Lamb (D-PA)
• Susie Lee (New Dem-NV)
• Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
• Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)
• Stephen Lynch (D-MA)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Lucy McBath (New Dem-GA)
• Joe Morelle (D-NY)
• Seth Moulton (New Dem-MA)
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)
• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Jimmy Panetta (D-CA)
• Chris Pappas (New Dem-NH)
• Ed Perlmutter (New Dem-CO)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Dean Phillips (New Dem-MN)
• Katie Porter (D-CA)
• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)
• Harley Rouda (New Dem-CA)
• Raul Ruiz (New Dem-CA)
• Bobby Rush (D-IL)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Kim Schrier (New Dem-WA)
• Bobby Scott (D-VA)
• Brad Sherman (D-CA)
• Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI)
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)
• Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI)
• Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)
• Jeff Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Maxine Waters (D-CA)
• Jennifer Wexton (New Dem-VA)

Early this morning, Ro Khanna was still rejoicing that the overall War Powers Resolution passed. But... "I was disappointed," he told me, "that the Buck Amendment was added to water down our Yemen resolution and allow for limited intelligence sharing with the Saudis. It was unnecessary, and it gives the Administration a small loophole. That said, the main event of passing the WPR should not be diminished. That is the first time it has happened since 1973. The signal is very clear to the Saudis-- they need to stop the bombing in Yemen and let in food and medicine."

The way Buck, the GOP and what amounts to most of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party (list above) watered down Ro Khanna's out-of-Yemen bill was by allowing Trump to share U.S. intelligence with any country he deems appropriate. That goes right to the heart of Khanna's bill and I;'ve been reaching out to some of the ostensibly progressive members who voted for it so I could find out why. So far none of them have responded.

No one was surprised that "ex"-Republican Tom O'Halleran voted with the still-Republicans for the Buck Amendment. O'Halleran has one of the most persistently-Republican voting records of any Democrat in the House and voting with his old cronies in the GOP is his safe space/comfort zone. Fortunately, actual Democrats in AZ-01 are fielding a progressive, Eva Putzova, for next year's primary. Blue America has endorsed her and you can contribute to her campaign by clicking on the thermometer on the right. This morning she told us that she opposes the Buck amendment because it "allows the Trump administration to continue sharing intelligence with the Saudi regime in their war on Yemen. Over the past three years the Saudis have used the information provided to them by American intelligence services to attack civilians in areas under Houthi control in Yemen. Neither the Trump administration nor the Saudis can be trusted to conduct themselves otherwise. I support the original resolution sponsored by Rep Ro Khanna that 'directs the President to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting Yemen within 30 days unless Congress authorizes a later withdrawal date, issues a declaration of war, or specifically authorizes the use of the Armed Forces.' Tens of thousands of civilians have died in this war and millions more are in the middle of a growing cholera epidemic as a result of the unsafe water supply. The American people never authorized the President to assist the Saudis in this war against Yemen and it is time to end it."